Happy Tuesday, friends and fans!

Yesterday, it was reported that former Oklahoma Sooners kicker/punter Austin Seibert was waived by the Cleveland Browns after missing a field goal and an extra point in Sunday’s 38-6 loss to the Baltimore Ravens.

Then on Tuesday, in an interesting twist of fate, Seibert was claimed off waivers by his former AFC North Division rival — the Cincinnati Bengals. Not only does this keep him close to his old stomping grounds in the state of Ohio, his new team is set to play in Cleveland this Thursday.

Seibert will also have a chance to start as Cincy’s placekicker with Randy Bullock dealing with a calf issue. Considering Baker Mayfield and Joe Mixon will also be heavily featured on opposing sides of this matchup, this is shaping up to be a game most OU fans won’t want to miss.

Now onto today’s Hot Links! Spencer Rattler builds momentum in the Heisman discussion, Lincoln Riley and OU players talk about COVID testing measures, more than half of Texas Tech’s football team has tested positive for COVID-19 since June and more!

OU Links

• On Monday, redshirt freshman QB Spencer Rattler and redshirt senior K Stephen Johnson were named Big 12 Newcomer and Special Teams Player of the Week, respectively. Much has already been said about Rattler’s impressive first start. As for Johnson, it was his first time being pressed into duty, and he passed with flying colors, making all six extra-point attempts and both field goals.

• Now more on Rattler, he recently received the second-highest tally of votes in ESPN’s first Heisman Tracker of the 2020 college football season. He’s currently placed just behind Clemson Tigers QB Trevor Lawrence, and is one spot ahead of Texas Longhorns QB Sam Ehlinger. Boomer!
• According to the Tulsa World’s sideline count on Saturday, there were only 69 Sooners in uniform, and 50 players were missing based on the official roster. A large portion of those not suited up were COVID-19 related cases, and Lincoln Riley wasn’t particularly happy about that, writes Eric Bailey of the Tulsa World.
• On Tuesday, Lincoln Riley revealed that most of the COVID-19 related cases were due to contact tracing. It still hurts not having them on game days, but the silver lining is that those players haven’t actually contracted the coronavirus.

• C Creed Humphrey and H-back Jeremiah Hall both spoke with the media on Tuesday, and the two answered questions about fans and other students not following OU’s mask policies. SI Sooners’ Parker Thune has more.

Around the Sports World

• This season’s NBA Playoffs have been full of some of the most exciting matchups in recent memory, and tonight the association has another one epic contest lined up for fans. The Los Angeles Clippers and Denver Nuggets are meeting for an all-important Game 7. Can Kawhi Leonard get back to a conference finals series, or will Jamal Murray lift his scrappy crew to new heights? Find out tonight at 8 p.m. CT on ESPN.

• Five Texas Tech Red Raiders football players have recently tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the team’s total to 75 since testing began in June. There are currently six active cases heading into this weekend’s open date. TTU is scheduled to kick-off Big 12 play on Sept. 26 in a home game versus the Texas Longhorns.
• Florida State Seminoles WR D.J. Matthews — the team’s second-leading receiver in 2019 — has opted out of playing the 2020 season and has also entered the NCAA Transfer Portal. In his absence, FSU was upset at home in its season opener, 16-13, by the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets on Saturday.
• Major League Baseball and the MLBPA have agreed to set up several bubble-like, neutral site environments for the 2020 MLB Playoffs. 16 teams, including the first and second-place winners from each division, will make up this year’s postseason field.
• With the majority of NFL teams electing to play without fans in their stadiums, the lives of their mascots is as sad and bleak as ever. SB Nation’s James Dator wants us to think of them in these dark times. Hopefully one day, very soon, they can get back to pranking fans and making us cringe laugh with their outrageous antics once again.

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